A MERSEYSIDE MP is calling for a public inquiry into the number of fatal police shootings over the past decade.

Louise Ellman's comments came on the day it was announced the Chief Constable of Sussex Constabulary had tendered his resignation.

Paul Whitehouse's decision came after he had been heavily criticised by a judge following the collapse of a case involving four of his officers.

They had been involved in a bungled raid which resulted in Liverpool man James Ashley being shot dead in front of his teenage girlfriend in January, 1998.

He had been asleep in bed when the armed officers burst into his flat and died instantly when he was shot in the chest at almost point-blank range.

Mrs Ellman, Labour's MP for Liverpool Riverside, said: "I welcome the resignation and I think there should be a public inquiry because there are wider questions - for instance, about the complaints system which should be addressed.

"More than 40 unarmed people have been shot by police in the last ten years and 15 of them have died.

"Nobody has been held responsible for this because the level of corporate culpability was so great. That is a major problem which needs to be reassessed."

She added: "The police do a difficult job but in this case their intelligence was deeply flawed.

"The Ashley case raises major issues about responsibility and accountability in the use of firearms by the police."

Mr Ashley's brother, Tony, also welcomed the news of Mr Whitehouse's resignation but said he would have been happier if the Chief Constable had been sacked.

He continued: "His departure is a step in the right direction but we are angry that he was allowed to retire because we feel he should have been sacked.

"What we want is a change in the law so that police are not allowed to behave like they did and so we can prevent this from happening again."

PC Chris Sherwood, the policeman who shot the Merseysider, was acquitted last month at the Old Bailey after a judge ordered the jury to find him not guilty of murder and manslaughter.

Weeks later, the prosecution announced it was not offering any evidence against three other officers who had been charged with negligence.

Mrs Justice Rafferty, presiding, said Sussex Constabulary bore a "heavy burden" for the shooting after hearing how information provided to the accused at a briefing was incorrect and out-of-date.

Within hours of the shooting, Mr Whitehouse issued a statement, backing the actions of his officers and stated that they had not done anything wrong.

Only last week it was revealed that two of the Sussex officers cleared of negligence, Kevin French and Christopher Siggs, had been given promotion from the rank of inspector to chief inspector.

They have also been given three years' back pay - amounting to around #15,000 each - to compensate them for the time they were suspended.

It is believed that this news prompted the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, to pressure the Sussex Police Authority to get rid of their chief constable.

But Mr Whitehouse continues to deny his part in any wrongdoing and said last night: "I have not got a bitter taste in my mouth. I am leaving to do other things.

"It is not right that someone should be hung out to dry just because no-one could determine who has misbehaved, just because something has gone wrong."

In a letter announcing his retirement, he claimed the last three years "have been the most difficult I have ever experienced" and added that he believed he had been "unjustly vilified".